


The Wonderful Mess We Made

by shipperman



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: + Background Sansa/Willas, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, fake dating au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-19
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-21 17:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2477204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shipperman/pseuds/shipperman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of short stories, about cute, and not-so-cute, moments, between sleepless nights and expensive textbooks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Library - Finals Week

The library is silent, but nervous. You can almost smell the brains thinking, over finals. Not to her surprise, every single table is packed, all the important books are taken, and the coffee shop outside is working on double shifts. Finals are very stressing; she knows that, even though it’s still her first semester, the pressure is already hitting on her.

For someone who barely did her homework in high school, she was having a hard time catching up. That’s why she decided to spend the rest of her Friday in the library, who, now she saw, was the most popular place in campus.

Her eyes scanned the silent crowd, searching for a place to sit.

There was one small lonely table, stuck in the corner, right by the bathrooms and the window that never closed properly. She sighed and tried to walk between everyone without making too much noise.

What she failed to see was that the table _was_ occupied, by a blonde guy, who, until now, had been hidden under his brown hoodie, probably sleeping, and was accidentally disguised, sitting right by a wooden wall. She is so distracted that she didn’t even noticed him, even when she was near, and _clearly_ could see the difference between a hoodie and a wall.

However, she only sees it way too late, when she throws her bag on the table, and he jumps up.

“I’m sorry” she apologizes whispering, but doesn’t move away.

“Don’t worry,” he smiles, but doesn’t offer anything else.

“Uh, are you… were you sleeping…?” she asks, hesitant, because he refuses to break the silence.

“Yes” he admits, “I am waiting for a friend that never showed up, and ended up falling asleep” he yawned “Late night last night”

In a normal situation she would expect him to have been partying all night long; but this was finals week, so he was probably up until 4 a.m. finishing some flash cards, if she was right about him.

“So, I don’t want to bother or anything, but, like, you’re sleeping, I need a place to study….”

“Oh sorry, yes I get it” he smiles, but doesn’t stand up. “Yeah, sorry, but I can’t leave.”

“Oh, wait, why not?” she asks, her words becoming a little louder “You were _sleeping_ ” the people around them turn to watch and she feels embarrassed and goes back to whispering. “I need to study!”

“So do I!” he whispers back.

She crosses her arms and stares at him, because she has no idea of what else to do. When she is considering leave, her mouth works faster than her brain.

“Yesterday I had to fight someone for a table.” She blurts out, too loud, and then goes back to whispering, “Yes, I mean _literally_ fight. And I’ll fight you if necessary, but I definitely need the table”

“I got here first,” he says, jawline locking, like a stubborn child.

Then she feels like she could punch him in the face.

“Okay, fine, whatever, I don’t need this” she complains and turns to leave.

“WAIT!” he screams, and several heads turn to him, with judging expressions and death threats in their eyes. “We could share,” he suggests, in a shouted whisper.

Reluctantly, she goes back to the corner.

“I’m Edric” he leans against the chair, in a very unpreoccupied manner, that Arya thinks it must be fake, because no other student is _that_ cool about everything.

“I’m Arya” she pushes her hair from her eyes, in a way that’s more a habit than a necessity.

“Sit down, Arya” he points at the chair in front of him, “I’m sure there is space for both of us.”

Turns out there was not.

Every square inch of the table is covered in textbooks, notes or flash cards (turns out he _did_ was the flash cards type), and even though neither of them says a word about it, both are completely angry at the situation. Twice he started reading from her textbook, and only realized it wasn’t his after he read two who pages; on the other hand, Arya misplaced her notes, loose sheets of paper in her messy handwriting, and had him helping her, to look inside every single book until she found it.

Eventually, they find a rhythm: piling their books, on their respective left side, so they aren’t mixed up, stapling their own notes together, and _definitely_ not sharing pens.

“I need a coffee,” he says, out of nowhere, and it feels weird to speak in such a silent place. “I’m literally falling asleep on top of my work” he shakes his head, “Do you want anything?” he asks politely, standing up without making a single noise.

“I’m good,” she says, and then changes her mind: “No, I’m not. I need a coffee. Black, pure and a lot of sugar“ she sighs, because being awake is getting harder.

He walks out of the library, and isn’t surprised to see the sun setting. He spent his whole day inside the building, and by now is already used to do it. The line in the coffee shop is long and he considers if he _really_ needs a coffee. The reply comes in the form of a yawn. He sighs and gets in line. By the time he orders, he had time to do a mental check up on the most important points of the subject he was supposed to be studying, instead of falling asleep.

He walks back into the library, holding one cup in each hand, and even though the it’s much emptier now, she doesn’t left his table.

“Black and really sweet?” he asks, offering the cup to her.

She takes it “Thank you” and taste, and know that he exaggerated on the sugar, but doesn’t complain.

He sits down again, and is extremely careful to not stain any of his textbooks with coffee, otherwise his aunt will kill him. He drinks in small sips, watching her. She is holding her cup and the pen on the other hand, underlining important things on her notes. Her short hair falls on her eyes, and she is so focused that she doesn’t even notice it. He thinks it’s cute.

It takes another fifteen minutes until he finishes his coffee, and, reluctantly, has to go back to work.

“Ugh, I can’t do it anymore” he complains and she looks up and nods, as if sharing his pain. “I need a break.” He sighs and adds “I need to do something fun”

“After the finals I’ll take you out to do something fun, she says, not looking up at him, barely even noticing the words coming out of her mouth. “But now shut up because I still have to revise”

He smiles, “It’s a date, then.”


	2. Dormitories - First Week of September

The first week of class is a remarkable sight. All of those freshmen, excited and curious to see the world rise before their eyes; on the other hand, the seniors, who look like they could shot someone for no particular reason, except, perhaps, tiredness.

In the midst of all that, there is Edric, sitting by his window, watching the people on the street, coming and going, carrying boxes and unloading cars full of trash. When he sees her, his heart does a little happy dance, because it’s been almost three months since he last saw her.

And no, he doesn’t like her, he just like a study partner.

“Hey there” he waves at her, while she is passing under his window, but she doesn’t look up; _probably because she didn’t heard it,_ he thinks, quickly jumping from the bench and moving to the door.

He saw her coming up the stairs, with a girl and two older men following them. He waited on the doorstep, expecting to see her face pop up from the staircase. The voices grew louder and the words became clearer.

“… and it’s not so bad, see? _My_ dormitory had trash all over every surface since the-“

“You probably _threw_ all of that trash”

“We can’t all be you, Mr. Pretty Little Boy”

“Is that supposed to be offensive?”

He saw them coming up, still talking, not caring about the world outside their little ball. Arya in the front, as if leading the parade; and then a girl, taller than her, with red hair and blue eyes, dressed in something he guessed it was high couture, and heels so high that would make anyone dizzy; and then the two men behind, one big and muscular with an easy smile and perfectly combed hair; the other, a smaller, thinner version of the same man, with a small mustache and a cast on his left leg.

“Hey” he said, leaning against the wall, and amused himself by seeing Arya jump, surprised to see anyone talking to her.

“Hey!” she smiled, recognizing him. “It’s you!”

“It’s me,” he laughed a little. “Are you moving in?” he asked, pointing to the roof, where he knew there was empty rooms.

“Yeah. I’ve been kicked out of my last place. Apparently, they found someone who paid more, so they rented for them. And this was the only place I could find in short notice”

“It’s not bad” he shrugged. The girl’s floor was the third, the one with the nice view outside; boys had the second, and the first was shared between a small kitchen and _several_ study rooms, plus a library.

There was a brief silent, not lasting more than fifteen seconds, before the other girl broke it, pushing Arya away and offering a hand “I’m Sansa,” she walked to him. “Arya’s sister”

“I’m Edric” he shook her hand. “Arya’s… studying partner?” he tried, unsure, just to see the girl blush and bury her face in hands, and everyone around giggle as if they were aware of something else.

“We should be going” Arya grabbed her sister by the shoulders, “lots to see, lots to carry” she dragged Sansa to the staircase again,

“Why?” the bigger man laughed, “Why won’t you introduce you _study partner_ to us?” he smiled at Edric. “I’m Garlan.”

“Garlan, behave” the man with the cast said, “Don’t make fun of the boy”

Garlan raised his hands, defensively. “I was just messing around”

“We’ll leave you alone, kid,” the other man said, and Edric decided that between all of those crazy people he was the only sane one.

Edric raised his hand, waving at Arya, who climbed up the last two flights of stairs, and her procession followed her, again, babbling about how it was a great place. He shook his head, smiling and closed the door.

 

Not even ten minutes later, he heard voices outside as people complained and tried to follow instructions. He opened the door to see Garlan halfway up the staircase, carrying a couch and Arya on the other end, with a concentrated face, trying to not drop it.

“You need help to carry that?” Edric offered, sticking his head outside the door.

“No, we’re fine” Arya said quickly between uneven breaths.

“No we’re not,” Sansa said. “Willas has a broken leg, I’m in high heels and it’s too heavy for her”

“No it’s not”

“Yes it is, let him help!” she gestured to his direction, as if there was any doubt _who_ she was talking about.

“It isn’t heavy,” Arya complained, “I’ve carried it up for four flights of stairs, I can handle more two”

“Let me help,” he said, rolling the long sleeves of his t-shirt.

“We don’t nee-“ she tried to protest again, but he had already grabbed her part of the couch.

“Let’s go” Edric said to Garlan, who immediately started to move again, this time faster. Edric didn’t looked back, but Arya was standing right behind him, pouting.

Much to her displeasure, Edric proved to be a real gentleman. He helped Garlan to carry up all of her things, including a computer, a microwave and carry down the same couch, because, obviously, the room was too small for it. Even after her entourage left, he stayed there with Arya helping her to put her things back in place.

 

After they finished, she made them coffee in the kitchen downstairs, while he plugged back her computer, because she had been trying to do it for the last fifteen minutes and it wasn’t working. They sat on the carpeted floor, with mismatched mugs, side by side, but their conversation ended up on Arya’s family.

Edric wanted to know more about her sister, and the men, and _how_ they were related, and he laughed when Arya talked about her younger brother who used to pretend he was a wolf, and the older one who was dating Willas younger sister and Willas was married to her older sister and by then, there were so many names and complicated relations that Edric kind of gave up on trying to understand it.

“Sansa used to say Willas was _her_ studying partner” she mentioned, when she was saying that they had meet in college, “And then she brought him home for Christmas, because he had proposed, so you can guess how dad was shocked. _She doesn’t say she has a boyfriend and now she is going to marry him?”_ she said with a forced lower voice, and then cracker laughing. “And then Mom _absolutely_ fell in love with Willas, we all did, actually, so no harm done.”

“He seems nice,” Edric said, just to not let them fall in a silence.

“He is. Too nice, I think. Sansa deserves someone nice,” she said with determination. She finished her mug of coffee in one long gulp. “They won’t give me a second of rest when I’m at home. They’ll keep nagging, asking about you.”

“Then let’s give something for them to talk about” he suggested, only half-kidding, but she didn’t have any way to know that.

“What do you mean?”

“You owe me a date, remember?”

She blushed, remembering about the afternoon they met and she had almost forgotten about that. Now he had brought it up and there was no place to run. “Fine.” She turned to him. “Where do you wanna go?”

“Bowling” he said, decidedly, and Arya suspected he had been planning that for a long time now.

“Bowling?” she asked, and he nodded. “Fine. Bowling. I’ll buy it. Friday at eight. I’ll pick you up” there wasn’t any chance he could argue against that.

There was also just a small chance he would _want_ to argue against that.


	3. Eight Blocks Away - Following Friday

_I’ll pick you up,_ as he said on the phone, and it sounded a lot more impressive than going two flights of stairs up and knocking on her door. More than that, it was the fact that they were _walking_ until the bowling alley, because college kids don’t have money to buy cars (or he thought so).

He knocked, three quick times, and put all his patience in waiting for her. It might have taken her whole 26 seconds to open the door, but in his mind it felt like 260 minutes. That’s how desperate he was.

“Hey” it was the only thing he managed to say.

“Hey”

“So, uh… are you ready? I am ready” he looked down to confirm if, in fact, he was ready.

 

They’d been hearing the rain all day, slow and constant on their windows. But, well, it was no surprise. The Riverlands was constantly under heavy rain. In true fashion of a gentleman, Edric offered to share his with Arya. Sharing an umbrella was a daily necessity, to the point that Arya moved closer to him and put her hand on his waist, holding him so none of them would get wet. Not surprisingly, Edric blushed.

“How far?” she asked, her head hitting his shoulder as they walked in the same pace

“Eight blocks” he, who had looked up the map online several times that same day, to make sure he wouldn’t make a fool of himself, assured her.

The rain started to get worse somewhere after the second block, but got unbearable before fifth, to the point that they had to stop. Or would, if it wasn’t Stubborn Arya, who decided that they _had_ to go on.

Arya didn’t properly had a _dating_ history, as much as would be expected of a college girl, and was trying to be more receptive of people in her life. And considering that Edric had proved himself to be cute and good looking, she thought it was worth giving a chance. Of course, she only accepted under pressure from Sansa, who was kind enough to give (unsolicited) dating advice while she was at home for summer. And it _had_ been a while since Gendry. Either she was getting ready to date again or else Sansa was a _really_ good advisor and changed her mind without she realizing it. Either way, there she was, under a small umbrella, her feet getting wet, Edric (who Sansa _assured_ her it was _perfect boyfriend material_ ) in a half hug. Her sister would be so proud.

“It’s right over there” he said, while there was a little less than a block to go.

There is a tragic combo that is often found in the Riverlands: awful people + car + rain. That equation equals to a wave, a wet Edric and colorful cursing from Arya. His body shielded her from most of the splashing water, which meant that his right side was soaking wet, as well his back and hair, while she only got splashed on the legs. While she cursed more, he walked faster, hoping that by the time they made it to the bowling alley he would have time to look into the damage made.

However, he saw it from a distance. Considering it was a Friday, the door should be surrounded of persistent students, waiting for their friends to show up, like always, even below heavy rain. But the glass door was closed, with a printed note stuck to it, by now already illegible, thanks to the water.

Before Arya could start cursing again, he turned around. “Okay, I have a better idea. What if we just stay fucking inside so I can take on a warm show and put on a hoodie because right now _I’m fucking freezing_?”

“What?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. Let’s fucking play Mario Kart or chess, I don’t know.” He complained “It is one of those days that I shouldn’t have even left my room” he frowned and started walking faster.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, first the sky is falling apart. Second, I ripped my jeans, couldn’t find the other pair of my shoe, tripped _on the fucking staircase,_ managed to get myself wet, and probably made a fool of myself because of the fucking bowling alley closed, so yeah, not going great for me today” he said it all without pausing.

“Playing Mario Kart is still something nice” she smiled.

 

 _Five minutes,_ he said, before entering his room, while she went up to set the things. He had to change into dry clothes and she promised him coffee. Punctually, five minutes later, he knocked on her door.

“Come on in” she yelled, turning on the television. The two coffee mugs sat on her desk, the smoke coming out of it, the smell filling the room. “Right. Ready to be absolutely humiliated?” she asked, only partially joking.

“I should say that I am _really_ good at video games” he warned, grabbing a mug and sitting on her bed.

“I have four brothers” she squinted “I am better than _all_ of them, and Bran spends the whole day playing” she shook her head. “I’m already sorry for you”

“Less talking, more playing”

They played until their coffee mugs were dry, and then enough time for a pizza to be delivered, and then to that same pizza to end; they played until a neighbor came to ask for them to shut up because _people are trying to study here_ , and a little more after that. By the time he left her room, the sky was dark, and the room was dead quiet. Even the rain had stopped.

“I’ll walk you out” she said, jokingly, but he waited for her outside.

They walked down the stairs, she with her arms crossed, and not saying a single word. He decided to not break the silence.

“That’s me” he said, pointing to his door, as if she didn’t knew already.

“It was… nice… today” she said, hesitating, clearly uncomfortable with the words.

“I’m sorry the rain ruined our date” he apologized, as if he could have changed the weather by the sheer force of his wanting.

“At least it saved you from the embarrassment” she smiled, mischievously, “I would _crush_ you in bowling”

“The invitation is open ended, Stark” he teased, leaning against the door.

“I’ll remember that when we go out next time” she said, and before he could say anything else, ran up the stairs.

It took him thirty whole seconds before realizing Arya had guaranteed their second date, even after that disastrous evening.


	4. Theatre - Late September

It may sound a bit offensive, but there is an easy way to find any drama class: just follow the weird folk. As much as Edric was ready to fight that stereotype, their guide was a guy with a vibrant green hair and face paint of a clown. It wasn’t exactly day to day attire. Besides, a much more excited Trystane Martell was dragging him there.

For the outsider Trystane seemed to be the cool friend, not caring about grades or anything, just wanting to party and drink. But this impression might be shattered if they realized it _was_ Trys who texted Edric _the whole night_ (even after stop getting replies) about how excited he was. And maybe he was just joining drama club because of a girl (like many thing he had done before, including befriend Edric) but the excitement was real.

“Could you please…” Edric gesticulated, unable to put his feelings into words “…not?!”

“I’m sorry, but I’m excited!” Trys smiled, almost jumping through the corridors. “I haven’t been in a play since eight grade”

The art building was the one with the colored windows. The drama department had the whole top two floors plus a theater in the basement. Considering it was the first class, they were all reunited at the theatre, seating on the front rows, talking loudly to each other, too busy to watch the door, meaning that not a single head turned to watch as they walked in. Their guide disappeared as soon as they crossed the door.

Without any other choice, they made their way inside the theatre, and sat at the seventh row. Less than twelve seconds later, Trystane was already engaged in a very deep conversation about art with three seniors seating two rows below and Edric considered that _maybe_ there wasn’t about any girl at all.

He looked around and saw a bunch of smiling people, mostly older. Including the man he supposed it was the director, because he was the only one carrying a note pad. He didn’t looked older than 30.

“Class” the man sitting on the edge of the stage spoke, and all of the heads turned to him. He has a wild beard and a bun, and considering that many guys looked the same, Edric imagined it was the new trend. “It is the start of another year in the club” his speech was interrupted by loud clapping “yes, yes, thank you. And before I say anything, we have to welcome our returning members. It’s good to have you back. And goo to know that you didn’t decide to drop during the summer” that got a loud laugh, perhaps from an old inside joke “And we have some new fresh faces I can see” Trys considering himself the main receiver of the message barely could contain himself seating “And I will ask you to introduce yourself to the class”

Before Edric could even stand Trys had already jumped from his seat, crossed over his legs, and was running down towards the stage. Slightly embarrassed, he followed his friend. The new ones formed a line right in front of the first row. Each one of them told the story of how they ended up in the club. To his relief, most of them were just trying it out for the first time, like him. When was his turn to speak, he gave a convincing speech about supporting your friends in need (he even received some encouragement claps.) He was the last one to introduce himself, so as soon as he finished, people clapped and the professor sent them back to their places. Everything was going more or less how he expected. _More or less._

Because seeing Arya among that crowd, that had been a surprise.

“I never expected you to be an artsy one” she said, loud enough for him to listen, when he was climbing up the stairs to get back to his seat, and invited him to sit next to her. He left Trys behind, sitting in the first row,  and already calling every member of the group by first name. He only saw her in the middle of his speech (because during the rest of the time he was too busy freaking out and looking at whoever was speaking) and saw her smile at him.

“I need art credits and Trys dragged me” he laughed, going up to sit next to her. “What about you? I never thought I’d see you here” he expected her in any place, from a car race to a debate team, but couldn’t place her on top of a stage.

“My sister was in the club. And my mother before her. It’s a family thing” she shrugged. “Besides, I mostly build sets and get mad at people for breaking props, while dressed in black…it’s the dream job” she  waited for him to sit by her left. “I’m just disappointed at you. Thought you were a big Shakespeare fan”

By this point, the professor started a welcome speech and gave a basic outline of what they should expect of the season, and insisted, over and over, how much hard work they would have to put until the end of the season. Their group had a growing reputation on the region that started after the shocking _Lightning Fire,_ a play about government corruption but set in an alien planet. After that, it was one more political than the next, and it was a hard task to not let the quality drop.

Edric managed to ignore completely all of the talk, glancing to his side, trying to see her reaction. _If she is too into it, I won’t say a word_ he promised himself, and immediately hoped for her to be hating it all, so he could start up a conversation, because he’d rather talk to her than to listen the professor, who by this point was sounding positively maniac.

And okay, maybe he likes her.

 _“You owe me a second date,”_ he whispered to her, not moving his eyes away from the professor, now in a passionate moment of the speech.

 _“You never asked for it”_ she whispered back, reclining on the chair.

_“I am asking right now”_

_“Okay.”_ She finally turned to him. _“But this time, I chose what we will do”_ she smiled.

Smiling a lot like a fool was a new thing for her. In fact, she was slowly becoming Sansa Stark, which was not only scary but breaking a promise she made herself (just after Sansa got her heart broken for the first time). And she didn’t liked him. Just enjoyed his company. Like two perfectly normal friends – practically roommates – are allowed to do.

Right.


	5. Dormitories - Mid-October

He jumped on the chair with the knocks on the door. Too loud and too fast, someone desperate on the other side. As soon as he opened the door Arya jumped inside, like she was running from someone.

“Quick,” she closed the door behind her “fake date me”

“What?” he asked, sort of confused “I thought you were serious about that date”

“No. _Fake date me_ as in ‘we’re boyfriend and girlfriend’-date” she explained, moving her hands.

“What?” he was just getting more confused.

“I got into an elaborate lie to escape from a family trip to the Vale, but things got out of control, so now I have a boyfriend and we are going really steady I just didn’t tell earlier because my boyfriend – that’s you – was not ready to reveal to his family.” She took a break, catching up a breath “Because, well, they are very conservative, and just want him to focus on his degree, and now he is a senior and they’d think that a girlfriend would be a distraction, so we just kept quiet about it”

“That is elaborate” he agreed, nodding, sitting back on the chair. “You do know I’m a junior, right?”

“I know _now._ But I panicked, so I just came up with the first story that came into my head.” She leaned on the door “But it gets worse” she twisted her nose, and he prepared for what would come. “She wanted to come and meet you”

“It could be worse” he shrugged, sending away thoughts of forced marriage.

“She’s bringing Robb.” He knew very little about her older brother, but by her tone he considered it wasn’t a very good thing “And big-mouthed Sansa already put on a good word of you, so my mother is _head over heels_ for you.”

“So no pressure at all”

“I didn’t finished yet:” she took a deep breath “Jon didn’t believe me, so I _maybe_ I posted that one picture we took at theatre on Facebook and said how happy I am for our one month anniversary”

 “It already got 124 likes” she said, quickly, as if it would be less painful “It is a lie on the loose”

“We got to do something about it” he said, standing up, already forming a plan.

“She is coming tomorrow and she wants to take us out for lunch” she looked down, as if ashamed of the mess she had created.

He got up, ready to create a story that said that I was just a misunderstand, accompanied by a heartfelt email, then everyone would be happy and no hearts broken in the process. “Then you just say-“

“I already said yes” she looked guilty and he, defeated. It was a situation that required a different approach.

 

“You know, we are a terrible couple. We have to up our social media game. I mean, come on” he scrolled down “We’ve been dating for a month, right? And there has to be at least four weeks of awkward flirting before that. But on Instagram? Nothing! Twitter? Nothing! Not even on Facebook!”

“We were keeping it a secret” she replied, laid on his bed.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t scrolling through your Instagram on 55 weeks back and liking every single picture you smile, because I love how your eyes sparkle when you do that.”

“Wow, you’re a great fake boyfriend. I should tweet about that” she put her pen down and grabbed her phone.

“Please, ignore the _fake_ part” he warned, not looking at her.

She hit him in the back of the head. “Okay, so first date was the bowling, the second was the fancy restaurant and the third was the beach day.”

“Where I officially asked you to be my girlfriend” he continued. Since she told him what happened they’ve been fact checking and making a complete backstory for a fake relationship.

“Were there flowers?” she asked, looking at him, sitting on the floor.

“You’d throw them on my face, so no” he replied, liking several of her old pictures, without not even caring of what each image was.

“That could be one of our cute stories!” she exclaimed, sitting on the bed. “You thought about getting me flowers, but thought I would not like and then five seconds later we saw a guy give a girl some flowers and I melted and you hated yourself for not trusting your own instincts”

He looked at her, wondering what happened inside her head that produced that kind of story, but didn’t complain about it. He was even enjoying the craziness that had been her lie, and now was completely onboard with it. “Do we have a favorite activity?”

“Netflix and chocolate” she replied, already writing that down.

“Or we could be one of those couples that sit on the grass just to spend some time together”

“Don’t be stupid” she shook her head “Okay, so we have a song?”

“No that’s cheesy”

“No, it’s _romantic_ ”

He looked at her. “You think so?” he furrowed his brows, surprised. “Never thought you would be one to care about something like that”

“I don’t. But _In-Love-Arya_ might” she explained. “I’m creating a whole persona here”

He scoffed and turned back to the computer “Don’t forget that it is still you”

“I’ve never met In-Love-Arya, but I don’t suppose it’s nothing like the Out-of-Love-Arya.” She explained, and finished the diagram on the page. “Okay. So if she asks about how we met?” she pointed at a square with that question.

“Finals week, we shared a table at the library.”

“Yes, don’t forget that one”

“I won’t because it’s actually true”

“So, our first date?” she asked, pointing at another square.

“Bowling alley, you kicked my ass. Also partially true”

“Wow, we have a great historic. It’s like we could even have been dating _for real_ ”

He felt a lump in throat, but didn’t said anything. Instead, he just like another of her pictures and decided that it wasn’t time to go into that turmoil of regret again.

 

“Well, she’ll be here by lunchtime. So dress something nice” she said, leaning on his door, preparing to leave. “I’m sorry to put you in this mess, but you were the first name that popped into my head”

“It’s okay” he smiled. “It’s been a while since I’ve lived dangerously”

She laughed. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow”

“Don’t I get a good night kiss?” he asked, only partially joking.

“Right?!” she laughed and opened the door. “Good night, boyfriend” and waved before closing the door.

(That night he dreamt that he was in a dinner with the Starks and Arya spent the whole meal holding his hand under the table.)


End file.
